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Saturday, January 21, 2012

Beautiful March

After reading my December/January magazines I have found a common denominator, it seems that all my favorite mags have an article on sleep. Like weight loss and de-cluttering, it must top most people's resolution list. While it is not on mine, I am hopeful that this year will indeed bring me better sleep.

As many of you all know, all three of my children had a sleep study performed at the end of last year, and ALL three were diagnosed with varying degrees of sleep apnea. What does that mean-- it means they don't sleep worth a plugged nickle. My rose colored glasses pawned it off as adorable children that loved their Mom and Dad so much that they wanted an extra snuggle in the 2-3am hour. I told my husband to enjoy it because one day they wouldn't want to do that (insert laugh). What I learned is all three kids are restless, lip smacking, iron deficient kids. If you care to read on...here were the diagnoses:

My oldest son, Chomps, is a shallow breather who takes a big gulp of air every few minutes; and he apparently has a low oxygen level throughout the night. Because he kicks his legs all night-- which I might add, results in my having to remake an entire bed every morning-- led the doctor to believe that he may have restless leg syndrome. RLS is a result of low iron-- so a Ferritin test was ordered. While we found his iron to be slightly low, it wasn't enough to cause RLS. Chomps also completed a pulmonary function test-- which indicated that his lungs were functioning on par with an athletes, but he did have collapsible vocal chords which was a result of the slime that comes off the tonsil and adenoids on to the chords-- easily cured when tonsils and adenoids are removed.

My youngest son was also diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea and low iron. But, here is what I found fascinating-- when the doctor watched his sleep study, he noticed that Baby J smacks his lips in the middle of the night--this is often associated with acid reflux. So, a return trip to an ENT, led to a conclusion that not only does he have huge adenoids, but he also has acid reflux. Then after a return return visit for a pulmonary function test, we also found that he has a slight case of asthma. The good news is that after a couple of months of prevacid, this boy is eating like a champ. He wasn't as picky as I thought, he was just uncomfortable. Now, we have added a puffer that we will use until the tonsil and adenoids are removed, at which point, they feel the asthma will go away.

Last, the peachette. She had the mildest sleep apnea. Peachette sleeps with her head far back -- which the doctor said is a result of her trying to get additional oxygen into her lungs. I had noticed this odd positioning, but never made this connection. Her iron levels were a touch low too, but allergy and asthma tests came out perfect. Looks like we just need a cast iron skillet and an air purifier for this one.

So, what is the next course of action? Well, during winter break, our happy family won't be going any place warm and tropical, we'll be headed to Yale New Haven to have all three kids tonsils and adenoids removed. It should prove to be the week from hell, but at least they will all be done and recovered (fingers crossed) before school is back in session.

My doctor, said come March I should be getting the most beauty sleep I've gotten in 9 years. Hopefully, I'll look like the 29 year old that I am!